Director

Luke Lorentzen

Mexico, United States | 2019 | 81 min | Spanish, English with subtitles in English and Arabic

• Producer
• Production Company
• Screenplay
• Cinematography
• Editing
• Sound
• Cast
• Contacts

  Autlook Filmsales

  welcome@autlookfilms.com

About the Film

In Mexico City, public ambulances are in very short supply; around 45 governmentoperated ambulances for 9 million people. In the jungle of the city, yet another jungle shapes up: private ambulances that compete for business, transforming the city into a lawless frontier of healthcare provision where only the fittest and the richest are likely to survive.

A few years ago, the Ochoa family—Fernando, his teenage son Juan, youngest boy Josué and family friend Manuel—were offered a very old ambulance. The deal was good, they bought the ambulance, and more or less learned the basic first-aid procedures. In that ruthless environment, the Ochoas set their own code of ethics: sure, they would accept bribes from a hospital when they take the patients there—even if it wasn’t the closest one—and they would bribe police officers, but for instance, they would never, as it happens with others, leave people with serious conditions unattended just because they may not be able to pay for the ride.

Lorentzen spent a couple of years on and off with the family, and three entire months following them everywhere, sharing their life day and night. The result is an entrancing piece of observational cinema in which the unobtrusive camera (operated by the director himself) is always in the right place, giving the audience the impression of being right there, with the Ochoas, with their fight for survival that leaves room for love and humanity, even in the urban jungle.

Teresa Cavina